Nepal has formed a committee to study the feasibility of launching its first satellite to an orbital slot provided by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) decades ago, officials said Sunday.

"As per the ITU instruction, we have to use the orbital slot by the end of 2015. Otherwise, it will be difficult to claim it again, " Narayan Sanjel, a joint secretary at the Ministry of Information and Communications, who heads the study committee, told Xinhua.

The five-member committee includes one member each from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment and Nepal Telecom Authority and two from Nepal Television, the state-owned TV channel.

"We have no experience of setting up a satellite. We have to study everything from the scratch. The report of the committee will be, therefore, crucial for us," said Anup Nepal, an official with the Frequency Management Division of the Ministry of Information and Communications.

The committee will study technicalities involved, feasibility at commercial level, loss and profit and estimated cost, among others. Once the study report is finalized, some supplementary studies will be done before calling either global or internal tender.

The satellite is expected to work chiefly to facilitate TV broadcast and weather forecast as Nepal's TV channels and weather forecasting offices are paying around 25 million US dollars a year for accessing international satellite services.

If Nepal is unable to entirely use the satellite for its internal consumption, it can be leased to either China or India or both for commercial purpose, according to the ministry officials.

Meanwhile, experts have stressed the need to develop the whole process of satellite launching via a joint-venture of national and international firms along with the government of Nepal.

"Huge amount of money is required for the entire process. It is better to go for public-private partnership model. International expertise and know-how should also be included and ensured," said Surya Bahadur Raut, a retired government official, who previously worked on the concept of establishing Nepal's own satellite.

It is, however, a bit late for Nepal, Raut said, pointing to the fact that ITU had allocated Nepal an orbital slot way back in 1984.

"At that time, we did not feel the need to have a satellite. As Internet and modern telecom technologies have now made their ways globally, it is better to have one's own satellite," Raut said.

Among Nepal's neighbors, China, India and Thailand along with some other countries already have satellites, while Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are making preparations to launch their own satellites.